ERIC ED386752: Twenty Contemporary African Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliography.

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Jones, Wilma L.

Twenty Contemporary African Women Writers: A

Bio-Bibl iography.

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Reports - Research/Technical (143) -- Reference
Materials - Bibliographies (131)

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'■African Literature; "Authors; Bibliographies;
Biographies; "Females; Foreign Countries; Literary
Genres; "Twentieth Century Literature

"Contact Literature; "Contemporary Literature; Ethnic
Literature; Women in Literature

ABSTRACT

To give established African women writers whose work
is available in Africa, Europe, and the Americas more exposure for
teachers, literary scholars, librarians, and readers of ethnic
literature, a study was undertaken which resulted in a
bio-bibliography. After an overview on contemporary African
literature, the 20 female authors are listed alphabetically in the
bio-bibliography, and for each author there is a biographical sketch,
a short summary about each author's works and themes, information on
critical reception to the author, a list of honors and awards
received, a bibliography of the author's works, information on ?..iy
studies about the author, and a list of the country of origin of each
author. All the authors write in English, and the list is limited to
authors of novels, poems, short stories, and plays. (NKA)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made "
" from the original document.

Twenty Contemporary African Women Writers: A Bio-bibliography

by

Wilma L. Jones

Abstract

Women writers are beginning to make an impression in . world
literature today. Recently, many books have published about
African-American women writers, and they would sometimes recognize
a few African women. Many African writers are quite known today,
but most of them are male. This article is about African women who
are quite established as writers in their various countries. Their
works are available not only in Africa, but in Europe and the
Americas. This article is written to give their work more exposure
to school teachers, literary scholars, librarians, and readers of
ethnic literature, worldwide. Included in this bio-bibliography
about these African writers are: a biographical sketch of the
author, a short summary about the author's works and themes,
information on critical reception of the writer, honors and awards,
bibliography of the author's works, and studies about the person,
if any.

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TWENTY CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN WOMEN WRITERS:
A BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY
by

Wilma L. Jones

African literature emerged in a flood during the sixties
in a time when many African countries were gaining their
independence. Several books by Africans had been published
before this era, but they were mainly autobiographical works in
either poetry or prose. The onset of African writings in the
fifties and sixties began with contributions by male authors such
as Peter Abrahams (South Africa), Chinua Achebe (Nigeria), Mongo
Beti (Cameroun), Camara Laye (Guinea), Thomas Mofolo (Lesotho),
Sembene Ousmane (Senegal), Leopold Senghor (Senegal), Wole
Soyinka (Nigeria), and Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kenya). These authors
are now well-established and quite famous in Africa, and
worlwide, too.

On the other hand, the fifties and sixties show very few
literary works produced by women. Almost all of their works
when submitted were either ignored, misplaced or lost, or
heavily edited and published as short stories in anthologies,
journals, or local newspapers. Rarely were any published as an
individual work of art. it was not until the seventies
(ironically, the era of women's liberation), that the writings of
African women began to be recognized. Two decades later, they
have gained more recognition in Africa, but are barely known
worldwide.

Jones/Twenty-2

Although I am African, I only discovered the writings of
African women after obtaining a B.A. in English Literature. My
curiousity about their writing began after I read The House nf
^h^-^Pirits (1985), a novel by Isabel Allende, a Chilean
writer. Her writings about her culture brought back memories of
similar images of my African culture and way of life, and it made
me wonder if there was any literature like this written by
African women, oddly enough, many students boast of having taken
a course in African literature, but none could come up with the
name of a female writer, other cultured readers are quick to
cite isak Dineson ( Out of Africa ), Elspeth Joscelyn Huxely (Flame
2f:^^B_gf_Thika) , Nadine Gordimer (1992 Nobel prize winner for
literature), and Beryl Markham (West with the K.-r^hi-^ These are
not African women writers. They are Europeans who have lived in
Africa and have written about there experiences through fiction,
in addition, the exposure of some of their works through films or
PBS television series has greatly enhanced their readership.

If the literature by African women has been around for over
two decades, what is keeping their works from being exposed to
the world? Trying to dig up materials published by African women
proved almost impossible, very difficult and frustrating. To
begin with, I knew very few names of African women writers, and
for others, i had to comb through secondary sources female
sounding names, m addition, most African names are not easily
distinguishable by gender, which made it even more difficult for
me to pick out the female writers in these secondary sources.

ERJC

4

1

Jones/Twenty-3

Nevertheless, I was amazed to find that there were, indeed, many
African women writers of poetry; novels and plays for children,
young adults and adults; and critical or journalistic essays.

PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

The purpose of this study is to compile a biography-
bibliography on those African women writers, whose works are
available in the United States, in order to give their works a
greater exposure to not only Africans, but also to teachers,
literary scholars, librarians, and of course readers of ethnic
literature. The books In Their Own_Voices (James 1990) and
Bibliography of African Women Wri t.r-» and Jnu.n.M.^. (Berrian
1985) gave me the idea of doing a bio-bibliography on African
women writers. No other secondary source, apart from these last
two books mentioned above, is specifically designed to provide
information on who these African women are and how much they have
accomplished as authors exists at this time.

As early as the eighties, more works by African women were
being published separately and not as part of other works. The
critics who used to ignore them can no longer afford to do so.
one aspect that has helped to boost their writings is the number
of publishing houses (owned by Africans) that surfaced in the
eighties in Africa. This increased their proximity to publishers
and decreased the incidence of lost scripts. in recent times,
four African women writers own their own publishing firms, and
they are known to concentrate on encouraging other women to

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Jones/Twenty-4

publish and also to produoe „,aterlals for prtaary and secondary
school children.

in the early eighties, also, more reviews about African
women. s literature began to appear in distinguished journals such
as Booklist, Newj^grjc_llm^^ WestMrlca, The New

^^i^^^^^^^ihr^ry_Jo^ WorldLiterature Tod.v, Jeune Af^^"'

MSjlaaazine, and Library '
journal. The words of African women writers were beginning to be
heard through out the continent, slowly.

on the other hand, the well-established African men writers
have not only been exposed in coverage by reviews, critical or
journalistic essays, bibliographies, but they have also had the
pleasure of having other writers write books about them and. their
works. Four works that come to mind are The Writing.
teahams (Ogungbesan 1979), An_Int reduction to w.i
^""'"'^ ^^fagfe^^^-WorldL^he Historical .nH n..^^

^^''^^''^^^^^^^^^y^l^o^^^ (Wren 1980, and A_Dance_of

^^a^J^Senghor^^Aci^^ (Peters 1978). i have

find such works written in the same way about African women
writers.

Recognizing the meagre exposure of African women writers, I
saw a need to compile a bio-bibliography about these women, ole
that Will include the following for each person: a biographical
sketch of the author, a short summary about the author's works
and themes, information on critical reception of the writer,
honors and awards, bibliography of the author's works, and '

Jones/Twenty-5

studies about the person, if any. A content analysis of
informational material from secondary sources such as
biographies, bibliographies, and interviews and book jackets, as
well as priinary sources available, is the methodology most
appropriate for this research. Each work by an author listed in
this paper will be examined (i.e., to glean information from the
title page, book jacket, and preface, if any), and summarized, if
read. My intent is to bring out the quality of each author's
talent, and, in addition, give a brief account of what they have
attained in their unique life, so far.

This bio-bibliography, i hope, will contribute to the few
reference works that exist in libraries on African literature
today. Those in the libraries today are usually selective in the
women they include. Although this research covers only the
African women writers who write in English, this will be one of
the first works devoted to only African women writers available
through major secondary sources.

I have limited my research to only twentieth century writers
of works written in English, and included only those authors of
short stories, novels, poems, and plays. Authors of folklore and
journalistic or critical essays are excluded.

A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

One of the first secondary sources I consulted for
information about works by African women was Donald Herdeck's

^-^^^^^^^^-^^^^^^^^^^^^ Black Afr^v.n w....^^ nrnjnn

7

Jones /Twenty-6

(1973). An appendix devoted to African women writers in this
book directed me to thirty-one female writers.

A Reader's Guide to African Literature (Zell 1983), the next
source I consulted, aspires to be a comprehensive annotative
bibliography of African works by African authors, south of the
Sahara, writing in English and French. Included, also, are
reference materials, critical works, anthologies, and a selective
biography. This second edition includes eleven women authors out
of eighty-five African authors. In the first edition, which was
published in 1971, only four women were included out of fifty-two
African authors

Who's Who in African Literature (Jahn, et al. 1972) is a
biographical source that pointed me to the same African women
writers found in African Authors . African Literature in the
Twentieth Century (1975) by O.R. Darthorne is a work of critical
analysis of African literature. It was the first work that I
came across in which four works by African women are discussed.

With a more intensive search, using Wilsonline (H.W. Wilson
Company's Library Literature Online) and the MLA Bibliography on
CD-ROM, I found four more books rich in discussing the works by
African women. The first encountered was Women Writers in Black
A frica (1991) by Lloyd W. Brown, which gives a solid introduction
to the writings of African women writers and works and a detailed
description of five novelists and their works. Oladele Taiwo's
Female Novelists of Mo dn rn Africa (1984) devotes separate
chapters to six major African women novelists, with one

6

Jones/Twenty-7

additional chapter about six other lesser-known women writers.
Bibliography of African Women Writers and Journalists (1985),
compiled by Brenda F. Berrian, is a checklist bibliography and
the most up-to-date source of poems, short stories, drama,
journalistic essays, and folklore published. In Their Own
Voices; A frican Women Writers Talk (1990) is also a great work by
Adeola James, who has recorded in v/riting the interviews of
fifteen writers, with each interview enhanced by a short
biography. The Femi nist Companion to Literature in English
(FCLE) is yet another work published in 1990 which gives a
500-word biographical sketch on women writers from all over the
world, dating from the middle ages to the present. This
biographical work includes 20 women from Africa— English writers
as well as French and Portuguese writers.

To complete my search in digging up all these African women
writers, i scanned through the cummulative index of Contemporary
Authors (1992) for names i now knew, thanks to my previous
searches. I found the names of six women listed , in the index.

UPDATE

While browsing in a bookstore about a year after my research
was completed, I stumbled upon the book Daughters of Africa
(1992) edited by Margaret Busby. it's subtitle led me to believe
that all the research I had done was for nothing. The size of
the book was intimidating, over 1,000 pages, yet I bought it as I
was dying to know what this author found out that I did not. As

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Jones /Twenty-8

it turns out, the book covers women of African descent, thus
including African-Americans, Caribbeans, and South Americans,
whereas I concentrated on only those African women who were born
and raised in Africa and only those who wrote in English. Also,
my article covers six important authors who do not appear in
Busby -s book, namely Yoma Lucilda Hunter, Barbara Kimenye,
Muthoni Likimani, Anne Matindi, Asenath Odaga, Ifeoma Okoye, and
Miricim Were.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

I found over 4 0 African women authors who have published in
English, many of whom have only one work published and very
little information on their background was found. There are
others who write in French or Portuguese and some of their works
have been translated. Mariama Ba, a Senegalese, now deceased, is
one such example, she is internationally known for her French
novel, Une_S^Longue_L^^ ( 1979) (So Long A T.ett..^ that has
been translated into English and other languages,. There are
others who write in their mother-tongue only, thus limiting their
literature to only those who understand the target language in
which they write. One such person is Penina Muthondo, who has
written eight plays in Kiswahili. she is highly thought of in
Tanzania, yet unknown outside Tanzania.

English is a second language to all of these African women
authors. It is the language that is most accessible to people
throughout the continent but not to as many people in their own

10

Jones/Twenty-9

immediate environment. Today, most of their works are being
translated into their own languages, as well as other European
languages.

Flora Nwapa (Nigeria), Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Asenath Odaga
(Kenya), Efua Sutherland (Ghana), Buchi Emecheta (Nigeria),
Rebeka Njau (Kenya), Grace Ogot (Kenya), and Bessie Head (South ■
Africa/Botswana) are the most talked about women writers from
Africa. They have published since the early sixties and have
continued to publish throughout the eighties and into the
nineties. Even Bessie Head, who passed away in 1986, has had
three works published post-humously, the latest being Gestures nf
Belonging (1991). Some of them are internationally known, and
many have won several literary prizes for their works. These
women have paved the way for others who are writing now. Flora
Nwapa, Asenath Odaga, and Buchi Emecheta have established
publishing firms of their own. Nwapa, for instance, has two
publishing centers; one is set up for printing only children's
literature and the other for adult fiction.

Many of these women are not only authors; they are also
mothers, wives, teachers, directors, publishers, and
(surprisingly) public servants. All of them have earned at least
a B.A. in English or a diploma in Education, many of whom
graduated with Honours. Some have done a Master's degree and a
few have earned their Ph.D. In their writings, the central
characters are usually female. Naturally, their first works are
autobiographical, mainly consisting of firsthand experience of

i I

Jones /Twenty-10

being women in the African society. The characters vary from the
assertive to the submissive woman, and themes include sexual
abuse, incest, raci-.m, polygamy, the hardship of raising children
on one's own, traditional practices, lesbianism, etc. These are
sensitive themes that these bold African women dare to treat in
their prose or poetry.

in examining most of their works, i found that there is an
eventual, (but natural), turn towards writing literature for
children. Juvenile literature with African characters and an
African setting is an area that has been neglected. Snow White
is probably the most popular story for children in every part of
the world. Certainly the moral of the story is meaningful to
every child; however, the concept of snow is baffling to African
children who, for most, will never see snow in their lifetime.
Hence, these women see a need for stories with similar moral
issues to be written with situations familiar to African
children.

Below is a brief analysis of each of the lives of 20
contemporary African women writers who have broken through this
male dominated field and are being read and heard throughout the
world. Two appendices follow after the bibliography to the
manuscript: Appendix A lists a bibliography of each authors work
in chronological order of publication, and Appendix B lists the '
authors and their country of origin.

AllA CHRISTIANA ATA AIDOO is one of the best known African woman

Er|c 12

Jones /Twenty- 11

writers today, she is famous for writing the plays Dilemma of_.
Ghost, which was published in 1965, and Anowa in 1969, the latter
being the most produced play in Africa today. Aidoo has not
restricted her writings to just plays, she has written two
novels, several poems and short stories-enough to publish a
collection for each-and lately, she has turned to writing for
young people.

Aidoo was born in Ghana in 1942 and all her writings are set
in Ghana. she earned her B.A. Honours in English from the
university of Ghana, in Legon. Later, she had the opportunity to
study creative writing at Stanford University, she has taught
English and African Literature in the United States, Kenya, and
Zimbabwe. Her literary career began with winning a short story
competition organized by Ibadan's Mbari club "No Sweetness Here-
from Black_Or£heus. m 1986, she won the Nelson Mandela Award
for her collection of poems entitled Someone Talking c^^^^^^
(1985) .

Aidoo. s works are generally described as being sad and '
tragic. Her characters are frequently disillusioned, and her
themes include women who insist on having a voice in decisions
with their husbands, strong-headed women, and conflicts between
Africans and Africa.

Works of Aidoo are certainly the most analyzed, mainly
because of her themes and unconventional form of writing both in
fiction and in poetry. she gained immediate critical recognition
with mj.Mia_of.^_Ghost and has kept a captivated audience since.

13

Jones /Twenty- 12

Althcugh all her works are written in English, Aidoo is known to
use phrases from Akan, Ewe, and Pidgin-English in her poetry and
prose. At the time of this writing, she is teaching African
Literature at Oberlin College in Ohio, and is an member of the
International Advisory Board for Ms Magazine.

ZAYNAB ALKALI is one of the first novelists to emerge from
Northern Nigeria. She won the Association of Nigerian Authors'
(ANA) award in 1985 for her first novel The Stillborn (1984).
This brought her immediate recognition to the Nigerian masses,
as well as some international attention; recently, parts of The
Stillborn has been translated into German. Her second novel. The
nrtnons_^omn (1987) is a thriller written for adolescents.
Both novels talk about life in Northern Nigeria, which is
predominantly inhabited by Muslims. Her novels are mainly about
family life, with recurring themes such as polygamy, urban
dislocation and family loyalties, contemporary problems of broken
marriages, and the bride-child and its consequences.

in an interview with Alkali, published in In Their Own
Voices, she honestly describes her works in these words:

the general conSltiS^ Af 1 ""^^ H^^^"^' ^^^^9^' towards
1990) condition of women in the modern world. (James

Alkali is not only an author end a lecturer, she is also a

wife and mother of five childrf^n Gh«

cniiaren, she was born in Gongola State,

Jones /Twenty- 13

Nigeria in the 1950s, she earned her B.A. from Amadu Bello
University in 1973 and later earned her M.A. in African
Literature in English, in 1979. She has been a principal of a
school for girls and has lectured at Bayero University in
Nigeria. Currently, she is teaching English and African
literature at the University of Maiduguri, in Nigeria.

BUCHI EMECHETA, chosen as 1983 "s Best Young British Writer, is
one of Africa's most dynamic female writers. She is a novelist,
writer of children's literature, scriptwriter, publisher, and
last but not least, a mother of five children. Emecheta gained
her recognition when she won the Jock Campbell Award in 1978 for
her fourth novel. The Slave Girl (1977).

Emecheta has written several plays for radio and television
numerous articles for learned journals and magazines, thirteen
novels, four children's literature books, and an autobiography.
Her themes are about contemporary Nigerian women and their
victimization at home and abroad, sexual abuse, traditional
values in the changing urban world, incest, issues of survival,
class status, and hardship of being a "second-class citizen in
England. Her works have been translated into fourteen languages
and she is the proud owner of the publishing house in London,
Ogwugwu Afor Company (named after an Igbo goddess).

Buchi Emecheta was born in Yaba, Nigeria, in 1944. She
studied Sociology at the University of London, and consequently
has used many sociological concepts in her writings. In 1980,

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Jones /Twenty- 14

she was appointed Senior Research Fellow in the Department of
English and Literature Studies at the University of Calabar in
Nigeria. She is also a Fellow at the University of London and a
member of the Advisory Council to the British Home Secretary on
Race and Equality.

Buchi Emecheta writes fiction full time now, and most of her
work is being drawn from personal experience. This is something
she has always wanted to do since she left her husband, taking
her four children with her, while pregnant with her fifth child.
Two of her children's stories "Nowhere to Play" (1980) and "Titch
the Cat" (1979) were inspired by two of her daughters.

Emecheta has not been shy in exploring the different

approaches to novel writing. For instance. Destination Biafra

(1981) is a historical novel and through out the years she has

written and completed her autobiography. Head above Water , in

1986. Second-Class Citizen is to some extent an autobiographical

novel as it tells the story of a young wife who struggles to

support her four children and her husband, a student in London at

the time. The heroine, Adah, who is the bread winner of the

family is also being subjected to physical and verbal abuse by

her husband to the point where she is forced into hiding with her

four children. The Rape of Shavi (1986) is a science-fiction

satire and Our Own Freedom (1981) is a photographic book on the

Third World for which she wrote the script. Emecheta 's advice to

young African women who would like to write is as follows:

You have to be determined. The first person you need to
convince is yourself. If it is something within you, your

16

Jones /Twenty- 1 5

iTt^II^^ "^i^ truth may not be my truth

von?o«?? to define it. That means having that belief in
Ij^;S\'99S) ^"'"^ ^""P""^^ ^° ^^^^^ it L you see it/'

BESSIE HEAD is one of Africa's best known women writers for
writing about her personal experiences as a black South African
woman-all of her works set in the small village of Serowe in
Botswana. Her first three works are outstanding novels, when the
Rain Clouds Gather (1966), Maru (1971), and a powerful
autobiographical work, A Question of t>^x.,o^ (1973).

Head published many short stories, essays, and sketches, and
even after her death, three more of her works have been
published. A number of short stories have appeared in
anthologies and in magazines such as Encounter . Essence, and
Si^cJo^orld. in 1975, MS published her short story,. "Witchcraft"
as one of their special features during International Women's
Year. Her themes are about racism, corrupt traditional
establishments, will power, survival, concern for women, power,
and local histories of villagers.

For such a remarkable woman who has made a significant
contribution in the African literary world, she lived a hard and
intense life, she was born to a Scottish woman and a Zulu man in
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in 1937. she was taken from her
mother at birth and was brought up by a coloured foster family
until the age of 13, and then placed in a Durban mission
orphanage where she received her secondary education and teacher

17

Jones /Twenty- 16

training. she worked briefly as a journalist for Drum magazine.
She married a journalist and had a son. After she became an
activist, she left her husband and took her son with her into
exile in Botswana, as she would no longer tolerate the conditions
of apartheid. It was in the refugee village of Serowe, Botswana
that she began to write while working as a teacher and a
gardener, she gained her citizenship as a Botswanian after
living in Botswana for fifteen years. She was working on her
autobiography when she died of hepatitis in 1986.

African American Writers such as Toni Morrison and Alice
Walker have acknowledged their indebtedness to Bessie Head as
their model and inspiration. Many of her short stories have been
translated into German. She wrote over 40 short stories and four
novels before her death, not to mention the other journalistic
articles, essays, and reviews.

YEMA LUCILDA HUNTER is one of the few women in Sierra Leone known
for her creative works published in English. Her first novel.
The Road to Freedom , is a historical account of the resettlement
of emancipated slaves in Africa by the British at the turn of the
nineteenth century. The story is told by a teenage girl as she
watches her family, amongst others, make the return journey to
Africa from Nova Scotia. She tells of their struggle to build
and establish a community amongst the other natives in the
region, and how they learned to live as free citizens in the land

Jones/Twenty-17

they had once been forced to leave behind.

Hunter has also collected and published the writings of two
Sierra Leonean women who contributed to the literary world in the
19th century. The edited work is entitled Mother and Daughter;
Memoires and Po ems by Adelaide and Gladys Havford ( 1983 ) .

Hunter was born in 1943 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She
earned her B.A. in 1964 at the University of Reading, England.
She went on to do a post-graduate diploma in Librarianship at
North-Western Polytechnic in London which she completed in 1966.
Later on, she earned a Master's degree in Philosophy at
Loughborough University, since then, she has worked as a
librarian at the Sierra Leone Library Board, and in the Medical
Library at the Connaught Hospital in Freetown. Currently, she
holds an international position with the World Health Organiza-
tion in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, she is married and has
two children.

BARBARA KIMENYE is a prolific writer of short stories, most of
which are children's literature, she is most famous for her
short stories about village life in Uganda, the collections of
which are entitled Kalasanda (1965) and Kalasanda Revist ed
(1966). Her most famous children's story is "The Smugglers"
(1966), and "The Winner" (1965) one which is found in most
anthologies dealing with African literature. Her works, often,
are satirical treatments about conflicts between traditional and
modern values. For instance, "The Winner" is a delightful spoof

lii

Jones/Twenty-18

in which a remotely related widow intervenes to save a lottery
winner from his greedy kinfolks.

Kimenye was born in Uganda in 1940. She has worked in
government organizations in Uganda and also as a journalist for
Uganda Nation , and in Nairobi for the Daily Nation.

Kimenye has been publishing short stories and children's
stories since the mid-sixties. In 1967, she published "Moses," a
short story about an irrepressible Ugandan boy. Since then, she
has written more than twelve sequels to this book, thus
establishing a captivating series of Mcses' adventures for the
young reader. "Gemstone Affair" (1978) and "Money Game" (1992)
are among her latest works.

MUTHONI LIKIMANI was well known as a broadcaster until she turned
to writing full-time. In the literary world she has published
four novels, her most popular one being They Shall be Chastized
(1974) which has been translated into German. It is clear from
her writings that her interests lie in the various activities of
women. Her latest work. Passbook Number F4927; Women and Mau Mau
in Kenya (1985), examines the Mau Mau revolutionary war from the
point of view of women's contribution.

Likimani, daughter of a reverend, was born and educated in
Kenya and Great Britain. She has worked as a teacher, as a
nutrition adviser, an educational broadcaster, an actress in the
Swahili film, "Melvi," and was one of the first Kenyan women to
be a program producer at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, now

er|c

Jones/Twenty-19

Voice of Kenya. Along with her writing career, she also manages
an advertising and promotion business in Nairobi.

ANNE MATINDI is a nurse by profession, but also an author of
children's literature, she is known in Kenya for her plays
geared towards children in elementary school. The background of
her stories is set in East Africa, and they are amusing stories
about domestic animals, some of which are science-fiction. She
and Cynthia Hunter wrote The Sun-Men and Other Pl;,y a (1971),
plays written specifically for primary school children. She
has written a short story in Swahili entitled, "Jua na Upepo"
(1968) .

MICERE GITHAE MUGO is a poet, playwright, and a scholar. Her
collection of poems in Daughter of Mv people. Rin^. (1975)
brought her recognition while she was a university professor in
Kenya, she has written two plays, one of which she collaborated
with the famous playwright, Ngugi wa Thiong'O, in The Trials of
Dedan Kiniat-hi (1976).

Mugo-s poems are ironic, passionate, and sometimes bitter.
Many of them challenge youth to struggle for a new Africa. On the
whole she expresses concern for people divided by post-
colonialism, "commercialism, calculated opportunism, cut-throat
materialism" (FCLE 1990) and a belief in women's strength. Hugo,
not surprisingly, is a fully committed Marxist who has been in

Jones /Twenty-20

exile from her homeland since 1982.

Micere Mugo was born in 1942 in Baricho, Kenya. She studied
drama under Rebeka Njau (another African writer and artist) at
the Alliance Girls High School. It was here that she began
writing poems in Elizabethan style, some of which she published
while at university. She earned her B.A. Honours in English and
Philosophy in 1966 from the University of Makerere, Uganda. In
1973, she graduated from the University of New Brunswick, Canada,
where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in literature with
the completion of the play, The Long Illness of Ex-Chief Kiti
(1976) and her dissertation of criticism entitled. Visions of
Africa (1978). The latter contrasts the colonial-imperialist's
view with the vision of insiders and those committed to the
people.

Mugo claims to have been inspired by Okot p'Bitek's
collection of Ugandan folk poetry and encouraged to write by
Chinua Achebe and Eldred D. Jones. She won the best actress
award at the Uganda Drama Festival at Makerere University. In
her interview with Adeola James, she calls herself a Marxist who
is concerned with the fate of Africa since independence and uses
writing as a revolutionary weapon. Her call to African women
writers is "to find ways and means of reaching the majority of
our people, who are women, to speak for them" (James 1990).
Her most recent publication is entitled Culture and Imperialism
(1987). She now lives in Zimbabwe and is a lecturer at the
University of Zimbabwe.

Jones/Twenty-21

REBEKA NJAU has been in the limelight ever since her prize-
winning tragedy one-act play, The Scar (1965), was published in
the journal Transition in 1963. she has written many short playr,
and short stories, many of which appear in The Hypocrite .nH
■ Other Sto ries (1980). Her writings focus on women and they are,
naturally, the strong and progressive central characters. Her
first novel. Alone With the Fig Tree, which won the East African
Committee Prize, remains unpublished. Her works show conflicts
in post-independence and include themes of madness, violence,
lust, magic, and lesbianism.

Rebeka Njau was born in 1932 in Kenya and comes from a big
family of five sisters and seven brothers. She was educated at
Alliance Girls High School and Makerere University where she
earned a diploma in Education, she became a headmistress of a
girls school and currently works in Nairobi as a researcher and
editor with the Kenyan Council of Churches.

Njau considers her writings suitable for everyone, even
though she writes with an African audience in mind. She is
married to a Tanzanian artist and has two children.

FLORA NWAPA was Africa's first woman to publish a novel in
Britain and gain an international reputation for her novel, Eiuru
(1966). Efuru was followed by idu in 1970, both novels told from
a woman's point of view. m these books, she portrays the harsh
realities of the African society— marriage, mothercare, family

23

Jones/Twenty-22

life, status of women, hierarchical structure of the Igbo
society, the place of gods, and the maintenance of peace and
order in tribal communities.

She also wrote many short stories which are in two
collections, namely This is Lagos and Other Stories (1971) and
Wives at War and Other Stories (1980). Her more recent works
include topics such as polygamy, the African woman's changing
needs, the atrocities of the war in Biafra, and domestic
hardship. These works provide literature for the African and
give the non-African reader an insight into the traditional life
of a certain tribe in Nigeria, the indegenous Igbo culture.

Flora Nwapa, eldest of six children, was born in 1931 in
Oguta, in eastern Nigeria. She earned her diploma in Education
from Edinburgh University in 1957 and went on to receive her B.A.
from the University College of Ibadan in 1958. She was married
to an industrialist and had one son and two daughters — all three
attorneys .

In her lifetime, Nwapa has many accomplishments, some of
which include being a mother, novelist, publisher, and the
Minister for Health and Social Welfare of the East Central State,
1970-75. She was also the owner of two publishing houses — "Flora
Nwapa and Co.," which publishes juvenile literature and "Tana
Press," which publishes adult fiction — both established in 1977.
In 1975, she won the Distinguished Author Award in Nigeria for
her contributions in authorship in pi >lishing.

The concern for the economic independence of women is a

er|c

Jones/Twenty-23

recurring theme in Nwapa's adult fiction. she believed that "if
the Black woman is economically independent . . . whether she is
in Africa, North America, or the Caribbean ... she and !.er
children will suffer less." (james 1990). Flora Nwapa recently
passed away in October, 1993.

ASENATH BOLE ODAGA is a Kenyan novelist and playwright who writes
both in English and in Luo. she gave up her career to devote her
time fully to writing and run her publishing house. Lake
Publishers & Enterprises, which was established in 1982. she has
written several books and plays for adults and over eighteen
short stories for children. Her first work, a short story,
"Jande. s Ambition," was published in 1966, and her first novel.
The Shade Changes, was published in 1984.

Odaga is known in Kenya more for her other works which are
on or about oral literature, a subject which is of great emphasis
in the public schools in Kenya. Simbi Nvai,.. (1983), a play, and
ggilo^ nqo Piny Kirgm (1983) are two of her works published in
the Luo language, and several others being prepared for
publication. She has also translated folktales into Luo, her
native language. Her literature, aimed at the new literates,
tells them simple things about how to care for children, odaga
is a mother of four children.

Asenath Odaga was born in 1937 in Rarieda, western Kenya.
She studied at the University of Nairobi and holds a B.A. Honours

2ij

Jones/Twenty-24

in History, a diploma in Education in 1974 and an M.A. in
Literature in 1981. she has been a headmistress of a girls
school, worked as a curriculum developer with a church
organization and also as a Research Fellow at the Institute of
African Studies, University of Nairobi. She is an advocate of
writing in one's own native language, and with her publishing
house, she plans to help other writers publish in various
languages and to produce textbooks for schools.

In the meantime, she has been commissioned to write juvenile
literature by Heinemann Educational Books, inc. Already, her
short story, "The Villager's Son" is being used as a reader in
the secondaray schools. Her oral literature written for children
includes a fantasy entitled The Diamond Ping (1967) and Thu Tinda
(1980). Her works from years of research on oral traditions
^"^l^de Oral Literature, a ^r^^ ool Certificate Course (1982,
co-author with K. Akivaga), Yesterday's Today : The studv of nr-al
Literature (1984) and Lite rature for Children an d Young People ir.
KenYa (1985). Her most recent work is Riana's Choice (1991) and
her next project is to produce a Luo-English/ English-Luo
dictionary.

GRACE OGOX is known in Kenya for her short stories, most of which
are now in the collections Land Without Thunder (1968), The Other
^^^^^^^^^-^^^^-2^ii^-^-^£ies (1976) and The Island of Tear« (1980).
Her stories have been easily "adapted for stage and are popular

2b

Jones/Twenty-25

in the cities and rural areas" (Taiwo 1984). Many of these short
stories have appeared in magazines such as Black Orpheus .
Presence Africaine.^ Transition , and East Africa Journal , she,
like Asenath Odaga, is an advocate of writing in local languages
and has published both in English and Luo. She is known in Kenya
for her popular short stories, namely, "The Prom.ised Land"
(1966), "The Graduate" (1980), "The Other Woman" (1976), and "The
Rain Came," the later which is often found in anthologies.

Ogot has written three novels, two of which are historical
in nature, and they deal with the history of her people, the Luo.
The first novel. In the Beginning , has a time span from about
97 A.D. to about 1300 A.D. and the second. Princess Nvilaak .
spans from the period from about 1517 A.D. to about 1750 A.D.

Like many of the other women writers, Ogot is concerned
about the role of a woman in the African society, and the impact
of the western culture on African rural life. However, books are
not the only medium of communications for her. She has worked in
Kenya as a journalist, as a public relations officer for Air
India of East Africa, and on Kenyan radio and television where
she also taught the luo language. In politics, she was a
delegate to the United Nation's General Assembly, 1975, a member
of United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), 1976, and also a member of parliament in
Kenya .

Grace Ogot was born in 1930 in Butere, Kenya. She trained
as a nurse in Uganda and later studied at St. Thomas' Hospital

ERIC ^

Jones/Twenty-26

for Mothers and Babies in London. She worked briefly as a script
writer and broadcaster for the British Broadcasting Corporation
Overseas Service in London before return home in 1960. Although
she comes from a family of storytellers, it was her husband who
"made her aware that she could write" and encouraged her to write
short stories (Taiwo 1984). Ogot is married and has three
children.

IFEOMA OKOYE is a novelist and a writer of children's stories.
She has published six children's books and several English texts
for children in secondary school. She won the Macmillan
Children's Literature Prize for Village Boy in 1978 and later won
the Nigerian Best Fiction Award in 1984 for her second novel. Men
Without Ears (1984). She writes about how humans treat each
other with themes that focus on corruption, scandals, ritual
murders, and the problems of technological change.

Okoye was born in Umanchi, Nigeria. She eajrned her B.A.
in English from the University of Nigeria at Nsukka. She is
married and has five children. She has lectured in the English
Department of Communication and Languages, and at the Institute
of Management and Technology in Enugu. She runs a nursery school
in Enugu. Popular short stories by Okoye are "No School for Eze"
(1980) and "The Adventures of Tutu the Monkey" (1980).

Jones/Twenty-27

MABEL SE6UN is a successful poet in Nigeria who has also
published several books for children. She is a strong advocate
for juvenile fiction and specifically writes for use in upper
primary and lower secondary schools. She is widely known for her
poems "Conflict" and "Impotence." Her poems have been published
in Black Orpheus and Odu , in Swiss and German journals, and in
American anthologies. Conflict and Other Poems (1986) is a
collection of 40 poems that she has written during a span of
three decades. These poems focus on themes that point out the
ills of society, namely the black man's inhumanity to his
brothers, rape by strangers, and incest.

"My Father's Daughter" (1965) was Segun's first short story.
It was partly autobiographical and is about a woman looking back
on childhood memories of growing up in a village where her strong
and kind father was a clergyman.

Mabel Segun was born in 1938 in Ondo, Western Nigeria. She
studied at the University College of Ibadan and at the same time
worked as an editor of Hansard , the record of the West Nigerian
Parliament. She earned a B.A. in English, and taught her way up
the ladder to becoming Head of the Department of English and
Social Studies and Vice Principal, at the National Technical
Teacher's College in Yaba.

ZULU SOFOLA is one of Nigeria's highly respected playwrights who
is also an accomplished musician and director. Many of her plays

Jones/Twenty-2 8

have been produced not only for the stage but also for the
television network in Western Nigeria since the seventies. They
include the popular Wedlock of the Gods (1968), The Deer and the
Hunter's Pearl (1969), and The Sweet Trap (1977). The topics of
her plays extend from social and domestic comedy to historical
tragedy in which the main character has committed an abominable
crime and is in conflict with tradition. The themes focus on
absurd legalism, societal greed, teenage stress, academic
snobbery, and crime, as well the weight of tradition in women's
lives. She also includes proverbs and phrases from other
languages spoken in Nigeria, such as Yoruba, Igbo, or Pidgin
English.

Sofola was born in 1938 in Issele-Uke in mid-Western
Nigeria. She studied at the Southern Baptist Seminary in
Nashville, Tennessee, where she earned a B.A. Honours in English.
In 1965, she completed her Masters degree in drama at the
Catholic University of America and later her Ph.D. in Drama from
the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 1977. She has taught drama,
written and produced plays for television, and also worked in an
amateur theatre. In 1975, along with Flora Nwapa, she won the
Distinguished Author's Award, which recognized her outstanding
contribution in authorship in Nigeria.

Currently, Sofola is a professor and Head of the Department
of Performing Arts at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. She is
married to a Sociology professor and has five children.

er|c

Jones/Twenty-29

EFUA T. SUTHERLAND is the most successful woman playwright in
Ghana today, and she is committed to the role of the artist in
communication. She has written many plays for both children and
adults. She gained recognition in Ghana with the production of
her first play Edufa (1966), which is about a loving wife who
offers to die for her husband, who has sold his soul for wealth.
Since then, she has written several plays, the most popular ones
being Foriwa (1967) and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975).

In all her plays, she embellishes a feminist theme and uses
her native language, Akan, in some of her writings. Sutherland
is also a poet and has written over eight poems which have
appeared in anthologies. "The Redeemed," one of her best, is
about a venomous snake lying in wait for a beautiful woman.

Sutherland was born in 1924 at Cape Coast, Ghana. She was
trained to be a teacher at Homerton College at Cambridge, and
later studied linguistics at London University. She is married
to an American and has three children.

Sutherland, together with her husband, founded The
Experimental Theatre Players, now Ghana Drama Studio, in which
they experimented with the integration of traditional African
forms and European theatrical practices. Sutherland has also put
together a children's drama group which performs throughout
Ghana. Her main intention is to introduce children to the real
excitement embeded in their own culture.

Sutherland has taught African literature at the Institute of
African Studies in Ghana, where she established a Writer's

Jones /Twenty-30

Workshop. She is also an active contributor to and co-founder of
Okevame; Ghana's Literary Magazine . Among her literary works are
scripts written to accompany photographs of life in Ghana, namely
Playtime in Africa (1962) and The Roadmakers (1961).. The
Roadmakers is a collection of photographs taken throughout the
modern nation of Ghana which shows the contrast between the rural
and urban, north and south, Moslem and non-Moslems, joy and
sorrow, young and old, and more.

MIRIAM TLALI is the author of the powerful novel Amandla (1980) a
book that was banned in South Africa within six weeks of its
publication. This book records the violence of the white system
against the unarmed population of the pupils' uprising in 1976 in
Soweto, South Africa. Parts of her first novel, Muriel at the
Metropolitan (1975) were also banned. It includes autobio-
graphical material of her experiences as a black female working
in the city and having to deal with the indifference of whites,
or having to- put up with inadequate facilities in order to keep
out any job run by whites.

Tiali has also written other novels, as well as short
stories. In her works, she excimines working conditions, marriage
problems, motherhood, poverty, poor housing, and city problems
due to loss of tradition and human ruthlessness.

Miriam Tlali was born in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, in
South Africa; however, she grew up in Sophiatown. She was

ERIC

32

Jones/Twenty-31

enrolled at Witwatersand University for two years to study
Mrjdicine until Blacks were barred from entering the university.
She tried to continue her studies at Roma in Lesotho but had to
quit due to financial difficulties. She returned to the city,
where she completed a secretarial course and worked for awhile.

As a writer, she is devoted to speaking out for women
and for her people, she has attended many international
conferences, one being the conference on African Women and
Literature. Her stories have been published widely and can often
be found in many anthologies. Tlali is married and has two
children.. Currently, Tlali lives and writes in Johannesburg.

ADAORA LILY ULASI is the first woman in Nigeria to obtain a
university degree in journalism, and the only one to write
detective novels, so far. she has written four novels, the most
recent one being The Man from Saaamu (1979). Her books are set
in the colonized Igbo land, where she grew up, with fictional
characters of the local people and colonial officers attempting
to solve local crimes. Ulasi is also one of the first to write
locally just for her own people, using Pidgin-English. Her first
two novels. Many Thin g You No Understand (1970) and Many Thing
Begin For Change (1971) are written in Pidgin-English.

Adaora Ulasi was born in 1932 at Aba, in eastern Nigeria.
She studied journalism at Pepperdine University and at the
University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned her B.A.

o 33

ERIC

Jones/Twenty-32

degree. She has v/orked as a broadcaster at the Nigerian
Broadcasting Corporation, and later at the British Broadcasting
Corporation. For about four years, she was the editor of Woman ' s
World in Nigeria, and later returned to England in 1976.

MIRIAM KHAMADI WERE is a novelist and biographer and is the
author of the best-selling novel. The Eighth Wife (1972). She
has written only four novels targeted towards the young adult/
adult group. Her novels are about the realities of growing up
and relationships within one's family or with friends at school.
Her themes focus on initiation and graduation into adulthood,
cross-cultural marriage, tribal rivalries, and religious
antagonisms .

Her first two novels. The Boy In Between (1969) and The High
School Gent (1969) trace Namunyu's growing up from being the
middle child who was too big to play with the little ones and too
little to join the older ones. Later, he encounters girls in
high school whom he find to be just as intelligent, determined
and successful as himself. Her fourth book. Your Heart is My
Altar (1980) centers around a protagonist who grows up in doubt
in a world plagued by cultural and religious conflicts, and she
dares to aspire to marry someone from another tribe.

Were was born in 1940 in Lugale, Kenya. She earned a B.S.
from the University of Pennsylvania. She later enrolled as a
Medical student at Makerere University, during which time she

Jones /Twenty-3 3

wrote her first novel. Though women are not always the main
characters in her novels, she is concerned about the changes for
Kenyan women as urbanization occurs. In 1985, she presented
papers on health issues at the Conference of Nairobi Decade of
Women. She is also the author of a biography on the life of
Margaret Owanyoni entitled, A Nurse With a Song (1978).

Er|c 3 b

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allende, Isabel. 1986. House of the Spirits . Translated by
Magda Bogin. New York: Bantam.

Ba, Mariama. 1989. So Long a Letter . Oxford: Heinemann.

Berrian, Brenda F. 1985. Bibliography of African Women Writers
and Journalists (Ancient E gvpt-1984K Washington, D.C.:
Three Continents Press.

Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements & Isobel Grundy. 1990. The
Feminist Companion t o Literature in English: Women writers
from the Middle Ages to the Present . New Haven: Yale
University Press.

Brown, Lloyd. 1981. Women Writers in Black Africa . Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press.

Busby, Margaret, ed. Daughters of Africa: An International

Anthology o f Words and Writings by Women of African Descent
from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present . New York:
Ballantine Books, 1992.

Darthone, O.R. , ed. 1975. African Literature in the Twentieth
Century. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

Dineson, Isak. 1984. Out of Africa . New York: Random House.

Gardner, Susan and Patricia E. Scott, comps. 1986. Bessie Head:
A Bibliography. Grahamstown, South Africa: National English
Literary Museum.

Herdeck, Donald, E. 1973. African Authors: A Companion to Black
African Writing. Washington, D.C.: Black Orpheus Press.

House, Amelia. 1980. Black Women Writers from South Africa; A
Preliminary Checklist. Evanston, ill.: Northwestern
University Program on women.

Huxley, Elspeth, J. 1982. Flame Trees of Thika . New York:
Penguin Books.

Jahn, Janheinz, Ulla Schild, and Almut Nordman. 1972. Who's Who
m Africa. Tubingen: Horst Erdmann Verlag.

James, Adeola. , ed. 1990. In Their Own Voices: African Women
Writers Talk . London: James Curry.

Killam, G.D. 1980. An Introduction to Writings of Nqug i.
London: Heinemann Educational Books.

Jones/Twenty-35

Lesniak, James G., ed. 1992. Contemporary Authors . Gale
Research Co.: Detroit.

Lindfors, Bernth. 1979. Black African Literature In English .
Detroit: Gale Research Co.

. 1982. Black African Literature In English. 1977-81 .

Detroit: Gale Research Co.

1987. Black A frican Literature In English. 1982-86 .
Detroit: Gale Research Co.

Markham, Beryl. 1983. West with the Nlaht . Berkeley, CA: North
Point Press.

Peters, Jonathan A. 1978. A Dance of Masks: Senghor. Achebe.
Soyinka. Washlnton D.C.: Three Continents Press.

Schmidt, Nancy J. 1975. Children's Books on Africa and Their
Authors: An Anno tated Bibliography . New York: Afrlcana
Publishing Co.

1979. Supplem ent to Children's Books on Africa and Their
Authors: An Ann otated Bibliog raphy. New York: Afrlcana
Publishing Co.

Taiwo, Oladele. 1985. Female Novelists of Modern Africa . New
York: St. Martin's Press.

Wren, Robert M. 1980. Achebe 's World: the Historical and

Cultural context of the Novels of Chlnua Achebe . Washington
D.C.: Three Continents Press.

Zell, Hans, Carol Bundy, & Virginia Coulon, eds. 1983. A

Reader's Guide t o African Literature . New York: Afrlcana
Publishing Corporation.

Zell, Hans. 1978. African Books in Print . London: Mansell
Information.

3V

r

Jones /Twenty- 3 6

Appendix A

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF AUTHORS* WORKS

Aidoo, Ama Ata Christiana

Dilemnia of a Ghost (play) Accra, Ghana: Longmans
Anowa (play). Washington D.C.: Three Continents Press,
1980, cl970.

No Sweetness Here (stories). London: Longmans, 1970.

Our Sister Killioy; or Reflections from a Black-eyed Squint

(novel) London: Longman, 1988, cl977.
Someone Talking to Sometime (poems) Harare, Zimbabwe:

College Press, 1985.
The Eagles and the Chickens and Other Stories (short

stories) Enugu, Nigeria: Tana Press, 1986.
Changes: A Love Story (novel). London: Women's Press, 1991
A Very Angry Letter in January (poems). Coventry, U.K.:

Dangeroo Press, 1992.

Alkali, Zaynab

The Stillborn . Harlow, Essex, England: Longman, 1984.

The Virtuous Woman . Ikeja, Nigeria: Longman Nigeria, 1987.

Emecheta , Buchi

In the Ditch (novel). London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1972.
Second-Class Citizen (novel). New York: Braziller, 1974.
The Bride Price, (novel). New York: Braziller, 1976.
The Slave Girl (novel). New York: Braziller, 1977.
The Joys of Motherhood (novel). New York: Braziller, 1979.
The Moonlight Bride (novel). New York: Braziller, 1980.
The Wrestling Match (juvenile fiction). New York:

Braziller, 1983, cl980.
Our Own Freedom . London: Sheba Feminist, 1981.
Double Yoke (novel). New York: Braziller, 1981.
Destination Biafra (collection of photographs) New York:

Allison & Busby, 1982.
Naira Power (novel). London: Macmillan, 1982
Adah's Story (juvenile fiction). London: Allison & Busby,

1983.

Head above Water (autobiography). London: Blackrose, 1986.

A Kind of Marriage (novel). London: Macmillan, 1986.

The Rape of Shavi (novel). New York: Braziller, 1986.

The Feunily; or Gwendolen (novel). New York: Braziller, 1990

Kehinde (novel). Oxford: Heinemann, 1994.

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Jones/Twenty-37

Head, Bessie

When the Rain Clouds Gather (novel). New York: Simon and

Schuster, 1969, cl968.
A Question of Power (novel), London: Davis Poytner, 1973.
Maru (novel). New York: McCall Pub. Co., 1971.
The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales

(short stories). London: Heinemann, 1977.
A Bewitched Crossroad: An African Saga (historical

chronicle). New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1986,

C1984.

Tales of Tenderness and Power . Johannesburg: Ad. Donker,
1989.

A Woman Alone: Autobiographical Writings . Oxford:

Heinemann, 1990.
A Gesture of Belonging: Letters from Bessie Head . Edited by

Randolph Vigne London: Heinemann, 1991.

Hunter, Yema Lucilda

The Road to Freedom (historical novel). Ibadan, Nigeria:

African Universities Press, 1983.
Mother and Daughter: Memoires and Poems by Adelaide and

Gladys Havford . Editor. Freetown: Sierra Leoae
University Press, 1983.

Kimenye , Barbara

Kasalanda (short stories). London: Oxford University Press,
1965.

Kaslanda Revisited, (short stories) Nairobi: Oxford

University Press, 1966.
Paulo's Strange Adventure . Nairobi? Oxford University Press

1971.

Taxi. Oxford: Heinemann Educational, 1993.

Likimani, Muthoni

They Shall Be Chastized (novel). Kampala, Uganda: East

African Literature Bureau, 1974.
What Does a Man Want ? (novel) Nairobi: Kenya Literature

Bureau, 1974.

Women of Kenya: 15 Years of Independence (biography).

Nairobi: Likimani, 1979.
Passbook Number F4927: Women and Mau Mau in Kenya ( novel ) .

New York: Praeger, 1985.
Women of Kenya in the Decade of Development (biography).
Nairobi s Noni's Publicity, 1985.

Ten Years of Nvavo Era. 1978-1988: Kenya Silver Jubilee. 25
Years of Development. . Nairobi: Noni's Publicity, 1988

Women of Kenya: 27 Years of Development ( biography ) .
Nairobi: Noni's Publicity, 1991.

Jones /Twenty- 3 8

Matlndi, Anne

"Jua na Upepo" (short story), Nairobi: East African

Publishing House, 1968.
The Lonely Black Pig and Other Stories . Nairobi: East

African Publishing House, 1968.
The Sun-Men and Other Plays , Nairobi: East African

Publishing House, 1971.

Mugo , Micere Githae

Daughter of Mv People Sing ! (poems). Kampala: East African

Literature Bureau, 1976.
The Trials of Dedan Kimanthi (play, in collaboration with

Ngugi wa Thiong'O), London: Heinemann, 1976.
The Long Illness of Ex-Chief Kiti (play). Kampala: East

African Literature Bureau, 1976.
Visions of Africa: The Fiction of Chinua Achebe, Margaret

Laurence, Elspeth Huxley. Ngugi wa Thiong'O

(criticism). Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau, 1978.
Culture and Imperialism (critism). Harare: University of

Zimbabwe, 1987.

Songs from the Temple: Poems , Gweru, Zimbabwe: Mambo Press,
1992.

Njau, Rebeka

The Scar (play). Moshi, Tanzania: Kibo Art Gallery,

Kilimanjaro, 1965.
Ripples in the Pool (novel). London: Heinemann, 1978, cl975.
The Hypocrite and Other Stories . Nairobi: Uzima, 1977.
Kenyan Women and their Mystical Powers (with Gideon Malaki).

Nairobi: Risk Publications, 1984.

Hwapa, Flora

Efuru (novel). London: Heinemann, 1966.
Idu (novel). London: Heinemann, 1970.

This Is Lagos and Other Stories . Enugu, Nigeria: Nwamnko-
Ifejika, 1971.

Emeka-Driver ' s Guard (juvenile fiction). London: University
Press, 1972.

Never Again (novel). Enligu, Nigeria: Tana Press, 1975.
Mammywater (juvenile fiction). Enugu, Nigeria: Flora Nwapa
Co., 1979.

Journey to Space (juvenile fiction). Enugu, Nigeria: Flora

Nwapa Co. , 1980 .
Wives at War and Other Stories . Enugu, Nigeria: Tana Press,

1984.

One is Enough (novel). Enugu, Nigeria: Tana Press, 1981.
Cassava Song and Rice Song (poems). Enugu, Nigeria: Tana
Press, 1986.

40

Jones /Twenty-39

Women are Different . Trenton, N. J. : Africa World Press,
1992, C1986.

Odaga, Asenath Bole (all short stories, otherwise noted)

Jande's Ambition . Nairobi: East African Publishing, 1966.
The Secret of Monkey the Rock . London: Thomas Nelson, 1966.
The Diamond Ring . Nairobi: East African Publishing, 1967.
The Hare's Blanket and Other Tales . Nairobi: East African

Publishing, 1967.
The Angry Flames . Nairobi: East African Publishing, 1968.
Sweets and Sugar Cane . Nairobi: East African Publishing,

1969.

The Villager's Son . London: Heinemann Educational, 1971.
Kip on the Farm . Nairobi: East African Publishing, 1972.
Kip at the Coast . London: Evans Bros., 1977
Kip goes to the City . London: Evans Bros., 1977.
Oral Literature: A School Certificate Course (with Kichamu
Akivaga). Nairobi: Heinemann Educational Books, 1982.
My Home Book One . Kisumu, Nairobi: Lake Publishers, 1983.
Oqilo Nungo Piny Kirom (play). London: Heinemann
Educational, 1983.

Simbi Nyaima (play). Kisumu, Kenya: Anyange Press, 1983.
The Shade Changes (novel). Kisumu, Kenya: Lake Publishers,
1984.

Yesterday's Today: The Study of Oral Literature . Kisumu,

Kenya: Lake Publishers & Enterprises, 1984.
Literature for Children and Young People in Kenya . Nairobi:

Kenya Literature Bureau, 1985.
Between the Years (novel) Kisumu, Kenya: Lake Publishers &

Enterprises, 1987.
A Bridge in Time (novel). Kisumu, Kenya: Lake Publishers &

Enterprises, 1987.
Munde and His Friends . Kisumu, Kenya: Lake Publishers 1987
Munde Goes to the Market . Kisumu, Kenya: Lake Publishers,

1987.

The Rag Ball . Kisumu, Kenya: Lake Publishers, 1987.
Riana ' s Choice (novel). Kisumu, Kenya: Lake Publishers,
1991.

Ogot, Grace

The Promised Land (short stories) Nairobi: East African

Publishing House, 1966.
In the Beginning ( novel ) .
Princess Nyialaak ( novel ) .

Land Without Thunder , (short stories). Nairobi: East African

Publishing House, 1968.
The Other Woman and Other Stories . Nairobi: Transafrica

Publishers, 1976.
The Graduate (novel). Nairobi: Uzima, 1980.
The Island of Tears (short stories). Nairobi: Uzima, 1980.

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Jones/Twenty-40

The Strange Bride (a translation of the Dholuo novel Miaha
by Okoth Okombo) . Nairobi: Heineraann Kenya, 1989.

Okoye , I feoma

Village Boy (juvenile fiction), 1978.

No Supper for Eze (juvenile fiction). Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth

Dimension, 1980.
Only Bread for Eze (juvenile fiction). Enugu, Nigeria:
Fourth Dimension, 1980.

Behind the Clouds (novel). Harlow, Essex, England: Longman,
1982.

Men Without Tears (novel). Harlow, Essex, England: Longman,
1984.

Segun, Mabel

Conflict and Other Poems . Ibadan, Nigeria: New Horn Press,
1986.

My Father's Daughter (juvenile fiction). Nairobi: East

African Publishing House, 1965.
King Emene: Tragedy of a Rebellion (novel). London:

Heinemann, 1974.
Friends, Nigerians, and Countrymen (prose: published as

Sorry, No Vacancy ) . Ibadan, Nigerian: Oxford

University Press, 1977.
Youth Day Parade (juvenile fiction). Ibadan: Daystar Press,

1984.

Olu and the Broken Statue , (juvenile fiction). Ibadan,

Nigeria: New Horn Press, 1985.
M y Mother's Daughter (juvenile fiction). Ibadan, Nigeria:

New Horn Press, 1987.
Under the Mango Tree: Songs and Poems for Primarjy School ,

with Neville Grant, Longman, 1980.

Sofola, Zulu

Wedlock of the Gods (play). London: Evans Bros., 1972,
C1968.

The Deer and the Hunter's Pearl (play). London, Evans Bros,
1969.

The Disturbed Peace Of Christmas (play). Ibadan: Daystar
Press, 1971.

The Wizard of Law (play). Ibadan: Evans Bros, 1975.
The Sweet Trap (play). Ibadan, Nigeria: Oxford University
Press, 1977.

West African Plays . Ibadan, Nigeria: Oxford University
Press, 1979.

Memories in the Moonlight (play) . Ibadan, Nigeria: Evans
Bros., 1980.

Old Wines Are Tasty (play). Ibudan, Nigeria: University
Press, 1981.

Er|c i2

Jones /Twenty-4 1

Song of a Maiden (play). Ibadan, Nigeria: University Press,
1991.

Sutherland, Efua

Eduf a (based on the play Alcestis ) . London: Longmans, 1967.
Foriwa (play). Accra: Ghana State Publishing Corp., 1962,
Panther House, 1970.

The Roadinakers (pictures of life in Ghana). Accra: Ghana

Information Services, 1961.
Playtime in Africa (poems) New York: Atheneum, 1962.
Vulture ! Vulture 1 : Two Rhythm plavs (juvenile fiction).

Tema, Ghana Publishiong House, 1968.
The Original Bob: The Story of Bob Johnson, Ghana's Ace

Comedian (biography). Accra: Anowuo Educational

Publications, 1970.
The Marriage of Anansewa (play). London: Longman, 1975.
The Voice in the Forest: A Tale from Ghana . New York:

Philomel Books, 1983.

Tlali, Miriam

Muriel at the Metropolitan (novel), Washington D.C. : Three

Continents Press, 1979, cl975.
Amandla (novel). Johannesburg: Raven, 1980.
Mihloti (short stories). Johannesburg: Skotaville

Publishers, 1984.
Footprints in the Quag: Stories and Dialogs from Soweto or

Soweto Stories . Cape Town, South Africa: D. Philip,

1989.

Ulasi, Adaora Lily

Many Things You No Understand (novel). London: Michael
Joseph, 1970.

Many Things Begin For Change (novel). London: Michael
Joseph, 1971.

The Night Harry Died (novel). Lagos: Educational Research

Institute Nigeria, 1974.
The Man From Sangamu (shcJrt story). Douglas, IsltJ of Man:

Font ana, 1978.

Who is Jonah ? (novel). Ibadan, Nigeria: Onibonoje, 1978.

Were, Miriam Khamadi

The Boy in Between (juvenile fiction). Nairobi: Oxford

University Press, 1969.
The High School Gent , (juvenile fiction). Nairobi: Oxford

University Press, 1969.

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Jones /Twenty-42

The Eighth Wife . Nairobi: East African Publishing House,
1972.

A Nurse with a Song . Nairobi: East African Publishing House,
1978.

Your Heart is My Altar . Nairobi: East African Publishing
House, 1980.

Organization and Management of Conmiunitv Based Health Care .
Nairobi: Project Management, Health & Consulting
Services Ltd, 1985.

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44

Jones /Twenty-4 3

APPENDIX B

AUTHOR

COUNTRY

Ama Ata Aidoo

Ghana

Zaynab Alkali

Nigeria

Buchi Emecheta

Nigeria

Bessie Head

South Africa/Botswana

Yema Lucilda Hunter

Sierra Leone

Barbara Kimenye

Uganda

Muthoni Likimani

Kenya

Anne Matindi

Kenya

Micere Githae Mugo

K nya/Uganda

Rebeka Njau

Kenya

Flora Nwapa

Nigeria

Asenath Bole Odaga

Kenya

Grace Ogot

Kenya

Ifeoma Okoye

Nigeria .

Mabel Segun

Nigeria

Zulu Sofola

Nigeria

Efua T. Sutherland

Ghana

Miriam Tlali

South Africa

Adaora Ulasi

Nigeria

Miriam Were

Kenya

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45